Warm in Winter
by roaary
Summary: When the Winter Soldier shows up in Emi's hometown reeking of death and despair, she decides to embark on a mission to save his mind from darkness. That is, at the risk of losing her own mind and heart in the process.
1. Chapter 1: Freaks

**A/N**

This story begins in a fictional rural Japanese town but will go far and wide around the globe. Translations of some words will be at the end of the chapter.

FYI this is not horror even tho our main girl, Emi, and her hometown are freakishly paranoid about ghosts.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

 **1: Freaks**

It should be an impossible feat for a small Japanese rural town of ordinary citizens to force the freaky super humans away but, they did it.

 _Oyamaa_ , they did it!

Well, the townsfolk did it. Emi was back home in Chicago when that happened.

Ever since that incident in New York with destruction falling from the sky on account of the Avengers, Emi had been petrified for her hometown. It was enough that tourists came and went with stories of horror – they didn't need rowdy super humans playing with their powers by the rice fields scaring them off too.

Underneath her window, she could see the children playing with their _kendami_ and pranking each other on the streets, and adults walking to and fro, stopping to chat, pulling along a wagon, going on with their peaceful lives. The women were particularly gossipy in these areas, and she knew that since her temporary return she had been a subject of talk among her old friends - "The blue-haired American freak whose father was eaten by a ghoul."

She remembered nights from when she was five years old, before she and her newly widowed mother fled to America. Emi couldn't sleep back then, so she would pull apart the curtains and stare up at the winking stars. That's when she learnt that around 1AM everyday, the super humans came out to play.

She learnt things others did not, like how Old Man Yutaka's shop burnt down not because the man was a drunk, but because a little boy with flaming hands torched down the shabby building.

Emi did not know who or what the boy grew up to be, but she needn't care. He was gone now.

It was nice to know that her town would be safe when she was home.

As she pulled away from the window, the door flung open. "Emiko!"

"Obaa-chan?"

Her grandma stood by the door frame in a polka dot apron, her fuzzy grey hair yanked up into a bun. The smell of that night's dinner wafted up through the cracks between the wooden floorboards. She had been cooking up a storm, again. The eccentric grandma whacked Emi lightly with chopsticks in her hand.

"That horrible accent of yours!"

Emi blinked, rubbing her arm where she was hit. "Obaa-chan, why do you keep saying that?"

"You sound like an American," her grandma seethed. "That country sucked the Japanese out of you."

It was something she had been saying since Emi came and she learnt that Emi once thought Captain America was a little more than fine. She probably shouldn't have brought along her Captain America action figure so soon after the guy became a fugitive and the town chased the likes of him out, but her boy cousins wanted to have the doll. How could she say no?

Emi pouted. "Did you come here to scold my Japanese again, or talk about how the boys will use my doll as a connection to hell?"

Her grandma's face went blank. "Ah… No, no. Why did I… Oh, your mother called to make sure you were packed for your flight home. Your friends will meet you in Tokyo."

That's right. They were going for an around-the-world trip this weekend before going back to finish college.

"Okay, thank you obaa-chan."

"Hurry and remind your uncle he's to drive you to Osaka."

" _Hai!_ "

Her grandma hit her again as Emi bolted past.

"My pesky grandchild."

"I love you too!"

Emi was running too fast to bother looking back. If she had, perhaps she would have seen the joking amusement from the old lady's eyes drop or how the crinkles at the ends of her eyes turned downwards, as if weighted by words and emotions she couldn't speak of.

* * *

Korin loved his boys and his only niece dearly, but sometimes those kids really stressed him out to the point he had to work out his frustration at the rice fields.

Finding that Captain America doll under one of their beds drenched in rice vinegar, the now adult Emiko putting those ridiculous stories of superheroes and villains into their heads, the endless roar of fun and laughter blasting from their house and the constant attention cast on them...

It was all too much for a man like Korin to handle.

He swung at the rice stalks. "Those kids," he muttered.

"What?" one of his fellow workmates said, thinking Korin was talking to him.

"Nothing, Rin!"

Being descended from the Ina family that migrated here a solid century ago, it wasn't a total surprise that their family was an odd bunch. The town had a strange history of myths and legends that had occurred here, most of which involving members of the Ina family. His ancestors were daredevils, the elders once told him. They loved to know, they loved to play and they loved to seek thrills.

It was dangerous and exciting all the same, but apparently none of those danger-seeking genes passed onto Korin.

He was a simple man with a simple job desiring a simple life.

All he could wish for was at least one night where he could pass his boys' bedroom without overhearing plans to cross into the spirit world or hijacking a car that would occasionally come into town. He'd had enough of that from his younger brother back in their childhood days.

" _Oi_ , Korin! Were we meant to use that old machine today?"

He straightened and wiped beads of sweat from his forehead. "No, Danno. Why?"

It was then that all six rice farmers at the scene paused, and looked up to the rustling rice stalks where Danno was pointing at. It was as if the skies had turned darker and the songs of the wind hushed into a silent stillness. An involuntary chill flashed through his veins, pulsating his eyes.

Danno gulped. "Then what is that?"

 _Something not good_ , Korin wanted to say.

He couldn't though. The shadowy figure that pushed forth strangled the words from his throat.

* * *

 **Translations:**

 _Oyamaa_ \- Oh my heavens!

Obaa-chan - Grandma

 _Hai_ \- Yes

 _Oi_ \- Oi. LOOOL The one time Aussie slang is used elsewhere, woot woot!

Sorry for not introducing Captain America characters yet, I've got to set up the scene, y'know? But very soon, I promise. I hope you enjoyed!

xx roaary


	2. Chapter 2: Shadows

**A/N**

Okay, second chapter on the same day! Woot woot. Please review/favourite/follow if you enjoy, thank you!

* * *

 **2: Shadow**

She ran and ran and ran through the town, a vision of blue and long limbs rushing past all the people. Normally Emi's old friends came home at this time and she didn't want to hear what new taunts they had managed to create to spite her.

If only she had just watched where she was going, instead of blindly running. She bumped into a someone on a bike, causing both of them to topple over.

"I'm so sorry!"

The person fixed herself up and smiled up at Emi, speaking in perfect English. "That's quite alright. No harm done."

"Oh, Julie! Sorry."

She offered Julie a sheepish grin and helped her pick up the camera and the books that had fallen from her basket. All in English, all definitely nonfiction and all falling under the topic of plants, fun facts or ghosts.

The woman was a photographer from England, here in some random rural rice farming area to snap fantastical photos. They kind of bonded over not quite being in place among the townsfolk.

Julie Gerald, with her fancy cameras and invasive mannerisms, and Emiko Ina, with her colourful style and shady family history.

"Did you just come back from the rice fields?"

"Yeah," Julie said. "But I'll walk back with you there. The nearby river is just _gorgeous._ Honestly, it's the perfect place for a picnic and nap or a proposal. I can just imagine it! Dining and wining, as the sun is about to fall under the horizon..."

Emi's nose wrinkled. "Best not to get married here. They might have driven out the potential superheroes in town, but the spirits here are all the same."

Julie laughed, pulling her bike along as they started to leave behind the town. "You're just like the townsfolk, full of superstition. And you guys _hate_ superheroes, what is up with that? I would marry Black Widow any day."

She shrugged.

"Black Widow's a fugitive now, you should be careful with what you say. Besides, there are some things that happen with no better explanation than dark spirits and ghouls. Superpowers just add more weirdness to this place."

"Babe, please. Have you ever been to a giant boarding school in England?"

The look on Emi's face said _definitely not_.

"Well, the first few years were terrifying to sneak out of curfew. The girls and I were totally convinced that there were dark shadows following us and vampires lurking around every corner, until we realised in year eleven that it was just the boys pulling silly pranks on us. I'm telling you, any funny stuff here has got to be a prank."

Emi had to admit, she felt insulted on behalf of all the towns people and tourists who had been scarred by this town. Those strange disappearances, people stepping out into the open the next day with complete flips of personalities... Maybe it wasn't the same as the Leviathan creatures eating at the sky and civilians during the Battle of New York, but it was definitely something.

Julie spoke up after a moment of silence.

"By the way, what are you in for at college?" What a lovely change of conversation.

"I'm hoping to be a botanist," Emi beamed.

"That's still a career?"

"Oh, shush!" she laughed, nudging Julie in the side. "Either that or a vet. I love all that nature stuff."

"Figures," Julie deadpanned. "You dress like a year long Coachella chick."

"Can't here though. I have to wear a _modest_ outfit to not hurt the feelings of the elderly." Emi did a little twirl, flicking the oversized sleeves of the tracksuit jacket _obaa-chan_ had forced on her.

The two joked over the weirdness of the town and the lives they had left behind for the moment. It was good, having a friend in these parts. That gaping hole in her heart was filled by friends, and she needed as many people to love as she could get.

* * *

When they got to border of the rice fields, all the cells in Emi's body froze.

"What's up with you?" Julie snorted.

"Don't you feel it?"

She swept her gaze over the vividly green rice stalks. The ones within their half mile radius were low, and beyond that were even taller plants. The farmers were probably concealed in there.

"Feel what?"

 _That sadness, pain, anger..._

Saying that would have made Julie think Emi was even crazier than originally thought, so instead she said, "Something feels off."

"Uh..." Julie did a quick glance around. "Nope. All I see is rice, rice and rice."

Emi shook her head. So it was just her and her weird radar again.

"Okay, whatever. Let's just find my uncle. Take off your shoes and leave your bike here, we'll come back for it," she commanded while slipping off her sandals.

"Nah, I'll just wait." Julie sat on the bike sideways, keeping it upright with straight legs and letting her blonde hair fall over the arm on the handlebar she was using to rest her head on. She looked like the kind of tourist pictured on those travel brochures promising a rejuvenating experience.

Emi's heart raced. _Nope, you are not leaving me alone in this hour of fright_.

"Come on, Julie. You're only here for another week, you should check out the rice farm instead of standing back and taking photos of it."

The photographer was unswayed. "What about the bugs?"

" _Please_ ," Emi laughed, borderline hysteric (although hopefully light-hearted to Julie's ears). "No rice farmers have died from the bugs here in the last decade, I assure you."

Julie bit her lip. "Fine. But if I wake up tomorrow with bites all over my legs..."

"Yeah, yeah." Emi tugged at Julie's hand. "Let's just go."

The two girls trudged through the mud, brushing past the plants, both thankful to have been wearing shorts. Then they weaved themselves through the taller rice stalks, headed to the area of the field Uncle Korin had mentioned the men would be working on this afternoon.

It was eerily quiet. No sounds of hacking, or the boisterous laughter and singing of the farmers. The hairs on Emi's arm were standing up, her senses on high alert.

That horrible feeling of death and destruction was beginning to override her mind. It was clawing at her, as if the spirits had found a weakness in her heart and were entering her soul, one by one, to caress her promises of horror.

Suddenly, a hand reached out and grabbed at her arm. She shrieked.

"Emi!" It was Julie's hand, and she was shaking.

" _Oyamaa!_ " Emi protested. "You scared me!"

"Something just hit my foot, in the water," Julie squeaked.

"Are you sure it isn't a rock?"

Julie shook her head adamantly. "It's hairy and slimy and a little soft. Do you have fish in this area?"

"I don't think so..."

Julie crouched down.

"I don't think you should..."

She plunged her hands into the watery mud.

"Julie..."

She lifted up a face.

The face of Uncle Korin.

Julie screamed and stumbled back into Emi, trembling and crying.

Emi was pale white like a marble statue. "Someone has been playing with the spirits again... My uncle... The farmers..."

"N-No," Julie stammered, holding onto her tightly. "Murderer. There's a..."

She was cut off by a rustle of the rice stalks. The girls fell silent.

Then Julie began to whimper as the dark figure started coming into view. Emi's eyes widened.

She knew who the assailant was.

It was him and his darkness invading her mind all along. A man everyone knew from his links to the heroes, from the images on television that followed his wake of destruction. Dark hair just above his shoulders, dead orbs in the place of human eyes and a metal, unnatural arm.

The Winter Soldier.

"Julie, run!" she yelled and shoved her friend in the direction of the road. "I'll hold him off!"

"No, I can't leave-"

" _RUN!_ "

The dazed blonde disappeared into the stalks. The rice fields - once a sustainer of life, now the field of death.

As she stared into the cold eyes of the criminal, fugitive and man she knew Captain America would follow to the ends of the Earth, she was struck dumb.

How could she outrun this soldier?

He was a freaking _cyborg_ , designed to do freakishly super human things.

Emi closed her eyes.

She was going to die today, on top of her uncle's corpse. She chuckled bitterly.

Uncle Korin was right. Nothing good came out of being in the Ina family.

They must have been cursed as a consequence of something their ancestors did, generations ago. Why else would her father have been eaten by a ghoul, and her grandma's siblings vanishing into thin air, and her grandma's mother having to flee after marrying into the Ina family and gaining strange powers of death prediction?

All she could do now was numb her mind and focus her breathing. She couldn't give in to her pounding, petrified heart.

 _Let me be a good and kind spirit_ , she prayed, not like the horrid ones that haunted the nightmares of children and took the elderly in their sleep.

Years ago, she had first heard a say she now liked to chant to fight off the bad energy. She inhaled.

 _Only light eats darkness._

Exhale.

 _Only light eats darkness._

Inhale.

 _Only light eats darkness._

Exhale.

Emi open her eyes. She was stable now, calm almost.

She was ready for the Winter Soldier to deliver her death.

But he stood there staring at her, all malicious intent erased from his eyes.

"Where am I?"

* * *

 **A/N**

Whoaaa this was a scary chapter to write! Poor farmers. I totally wonder who unfroze poor Bucky and sent him to kill them all. I mean, they aren't involved in any big ol' foreign affairs thing or power hunting, right?

Haha I hope you enjoyed!

Two chapters in one night, because this girl doesn't want to do her almost due assignments because she is very sad that her news ideas have been rejected again and again and she just wants to go party :)))

Thank you for reading

Please review/follow if you like it, support means a lot

xx roaary


	3. Chapter 3: Hide

**A/N**

Yaaayyy Bucky boy! Please remember to follow/favourite/review to show support if you enjoy!

Warning: possible triggers for death? idk don't think so but just in case for the beginning part of the chapter. Please skip to the second line to pass the possible trigger-y part.

* * *

 **3: HIDE**

"Where am I?"

Emi's sanity was spreading thin. What was going on?

"Did I hurt you?"

Cold air escaped her lips. "You're the Winter Soldier."

"James," he said. "James Buchanan Barnes."

 _Oyamaa,_ she had been swearing to the heavens all day. She clutched at the headache in her forehead, lifted her head to the orange-tinted sky and laughed. It was a sound void of emotion. "What the fuck is this?"

"Or just Bucky..." the Winter Soldier mumbled.

Her eyes snapped to the man and her next words were venomous. "Aren't you going to kill me, like you did my uncle and his friends?"

He flinched. "I'm sorry."

"There's no Captain America around, go ahead."

"I'm sorry, I don't remember... I don't know what I did."

"You don't know what you..." She collapsed onto her knees, barely noticing she was drenching herself in the mud and decay of the dead. Emi wanted so badly to leave this place, but to leave this place would be for the soldier to roam free without a watchful eye. Julie probably screeched "Bloody murder!" the moment she returned to town, and they would assume Emi was dead.

If she showed up in town alive, they would think she had been possessed and chase her away or worse, burn her.

Most of the townsfolk were afraid to venture out of their homes this late in the day. They would come tomorrow to find the bodies.

 _Obaa-chan_ would call her mother in that time and break the bad news. Emi would never be able to see her grandmother, her mum, her friends planning to meet her in Tokyo tomorrow, her dog, her birds, her plants on the windowsill back in the shared apartment in Chicago...

She struggled to blink the tears away, but she could taste their saltiness anyway. What was she supposed to do?

" _K_ _aa-san_..." she cried. "I'm sorry for leaving you the way _tou-chan_ did... Please forgive me, mum."

"I'm sorry," the soldier just said.

"Don't."

"I'm sorry."

"Please, don't," she begged. "Just kill me. You have a time limit, Captain America is probably looking for you now."

His eyes glazed over. "Steve..."

"Just finish the job."

He shook his head. "I've hurt too many people. Please let me help you."

Emi lunged at him and shook him by the shoulders, one shoulder icy steel, the other warm skin under fabric. He barely moved. "Just finish me off, that's how you can help, please! There's no life for me anymore, don't you understand?"

The soldier remained still.

She shoved him back in disgust and turned her back on him. "What an eventful life I've had. Father killed by a ghoul, moved to another continent for another chance for a shitty life and when I finally have my life together you..."

Emi seethed. "You come here and take away more of my family and now my cousins will have to grow up without a dad, and my grandma's children have all died before her and the town will be riddled with more ghosts and fear. Great, _great!"_

"Let me help," the soldier urged. "Let me give you a new life."

Emi looked back at him and scoffed. "Seriously?"

"Not me, but... Steve..."

"Steve?"

He nodded. "Captain America."

"Oh yeah, right." _Because I'm totally on first name basis with Captain America_. "Can he really do anything though? He's a wanted man now, no offence."

He ignored that last remark. "We should leave this place."

Emi sighed, slightly recovered from her panic. _Only light eats darkness_ _._ She had to be logical now. They were standing among the corpses of dead people. Their sprits were likely to be lingering. "Alright, lead the way, soldier."

It was strange, the sensation that came to her in that moment, that made her think something in the man shattered at the word "soldier". He was a criminal and uncle-murderer, she shouldn't have cared for his feelings. Yet there was a mournful song she could hear humming from his soul and she couldn't ignore it.

"Just call me Bucky, please."

She rubbed at her eyes. May the heavens look over her. "Okay, Bucky."

* * *

The smell of bacon, people about and sunshine filtering through the glass walls should have put him in a happy mood. It was small freedoms like this that made Steve Rogers feel a little better sometimes. Not today, though.

"They say he was last spotted in Osaka, Japan."

"Japan?" Sam exclaimed. "Ice guy was frozen in Africa just yesterday!"

Steve sighed, wishing Sam would keep his voice down in this small diner.

"That's why we need to find him."

Sam ran a hand over his hair. "Man, we're going to have a hard time if Stark and Ross are already on this."

"Don't worry about them, worry about Bucky." Steve smiled at the waitress who had just set their breakfast on the table before turning back to his friend. "Here's the plan."

* * *

"Not this again," Tony Stark groaned as he dropped into his office chair.

It was all over television. Good ol' Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, alive and well, terrorising civilian streets and now targeting Japan.

He had blocked all incoming calls to his office today. He wasn't sure who Bucky Barnes was (okay, he _did_ know but not explicitly well aside from some key events in history that had unknowingly altered his life forever) but wherever Bucky was, Steve the saviour was.

Mr. Secretary could suck it. There was no way Tony was getting involved in this again.

* * *

On the road away from her hometown, Emi and the sold- _Bucky_ \- walked.

They had walked a few miles, she was sure, until her legs gave way and her empty tummy (that by the way, had been waiting for the feast of a dinner _obaa-chan_ whipped up hours earlier) ripped at her insides.

She had to keep going.

Emi was not going to leave the soldier - no, _Bucky_ \- alone. He would surely wander off and do other disastrous things, though his conflicted mind seemed relatively stable at the moment. The next time they stumbled upon somebody and he had the will to hurt, she could at least sacrifice herself to give others the time to flee.

Bucky bent down to her level. "Do you want me to carry you?"

She looked at his offering arms. _Arms of a murderer, hands of a murderer_ , she chanted repeatedly in her brain.

"No."

She pushed herself up. Took three steps, then stumbled again. Exhaustion was blanketing her eyes, shutting her off although her mind was wide awake.

The shocking emotions tumbling from the man's soul was riveting and overpowering and it kept her up. His mind was a tumbled mess of things, scattering here and there, a pattern she had never seen in a person before.

 _What am I talking about?_ she thought to herself. _Pfft, pretending I can feel people's souls._

She felt his arms tuck themselves under her torso and her knees, lifting her up. He held her away from his body, as if knowing completely well her desire to distance herself from him.

"Just sleep."

* * *

The plain sheet of night sky over their heads was the perfect cover for them. He followed the raised dirt road along its sunken sides, hoping to avoid the moonlight that would cast onto his metal arm and act as a beacon for attention. If there was anyone else in sight, that is.

The girl in Bucky's arms was asleep now, humming a little in her sleep.

He sighed.

It seemed that whenever something happened, he would have to rely on Steve for help. Who knew that after the war, he would never taste the freedom he fought for?

He walked onwards, until the blackness above traded itself in for the soft blue hues and the dirt road turned into concrete. They had reached a city. Where, he did not know, but it meant there would be food and shelter and places to hide.

Bucky ducked into an alleyway and set the blue-haired girl down.

"Hey," he whispered. No response.

He scanned their surroundings: piles of crates, metal ladders leading up to apartments, newspaper scraps flittering around and caught in corners, several dumpsters pushed up against brick walls.

Perhaps he could leave the girl here. Find some food for them, grab her a jacket too. But what if she woke up?

Bucky could already envision flashing dark eyes glaring into his soul. The anger looked out of place on her face - more painful than hateful, as though the muscles in her face refused to frown. No matter how much he deserved it, he couldn't bring himself to look at the pain he had caused.

He dropped down across from her, the bricks digging into his back.

Sooner or later, the girl's eyes gently flickered open and her chapped lips opened. "You."

Guess he didn't really deserve a "good morning".

She sat up, examined where she was quickly. "We're in a city. Great. What do we do now?"

"Find food? Find you warmer clothes?"

Her bare legs were crusted with dried mud and blood, and the sleeves of her jacket were torn. She sighed. "I don't have money with me."

He rolled his eyes. "I was thinking of just taking..."

She shook her head. "No, that's wrong."

"I've done worse," he grumbled.

"Fine," she huffed, the word coming out in a cold puff. "You can do it, but I can't watch you steal. Please get us a map while you're at it, and maybe a long sleeve shirt to cover your..."

She gestured wildly at his robotic left arm.

"What are you going to do, cover your eyes while I steal things for you?"

"Yes," she retorted and crossed her arms. "If I watch you steal, I'll get upset."

Huh. Not only did he kill the farmers, he was also corrupting an innocent. He was a sinner through and through.

And to think Steve Rogers, America's golden boy, had sacrificed a peaceful life for one of a runway's, and fought his friends to protect a terrorist like him.

 _I'll find my way back to Wakanda,_ he swore as he helped the girl up. She shoved him off. _And I'll never burden you or this world again, Steve._

* * *

 **A/N**

Are any of these guys out of character? Please let me know!

I'm normally a DC chick and barely read up on Marvel people, so would like the correction of experts :P

Please note that next update will be in one or two weeks because of personal reasons. Thanks for reading this far!

xx roaary


	4. Chapter 4: Dead

**A/N:**

So I learnt today in scriptwriting class that during the era of the Avengers Peter Parker was supposed to look like some kid. Wow what? And I thought 12-ie looking Peter Parker was weird af... Guess it makes sense now!

Anyhoo...

* * *

 **4: DEAD**

Bucky had looked at her funny when Emi claimed she could not watch him steal. Too bad it was all very true.

"Look, that old woman at the store is turning her back on us." She pushed him forward from their hiding spot behind a street lamp and pivoted to face the other way. "Go."

She heard him sigh, and then his presence was gone.

The iciness that settled on the city early morning nipped at her bare, mud-crusted legs. Once upon a time, Emi would have thrown a fit about how her clothes were stained, how hard it would be to wash, how disgusting she looked... She laughed bitterly. She was a dead girl now, and dead girls should be worried about staying dead rather than how lovely they looked in their coffins.

"Here."

Suddenly the weight of warm fabric fell onto her shoulders. She looked up at Bucky, who smiled back uneasily. He had a sweatshirt over him now, concealing both arms, and his hair stuffed up into a beanie.

"You're fast," she said. He shrugged.

She snatched the plastic bag from his hands and examined the contents. Packets of food, a map, some cash, two plums and an apple.

"I got this too," he mumbled and drew a red knitted scarf from his pockets.

"You can wear that." She slipped her arms into the sleeves of the coat he had placed on her. "The coat is warm, thank you."

Bucky shook his head. "No, you-"

"Bucky, just-"

He muffled her mouth with the scarf, wrapping it around her neck and lower half of her face. She tugged it down and scowled, but said nothing. After cleaning up at a public toilet, Bucky and Emi huddled over the map outside a cafe.

"I need to go back to Africa," he said.

"We need to get to the international airport then, or a ship."

"Not an airport, they'll have more security."

Emi nodded. "Okay, a ship then. First we have to travel north to the border."

"Now you want me to steal a car too?" he scoffed. She simply shrugged and smiled back cheekily.

"Just don't let me see it."

* * *

They left Osaka at 8:00AM, according to the car clock.

Thank the heavens Bucky knew how to drive, because busting the bumper for a record of four times and attaining multiple speeding fines during her time on a learner's permit had left a dent in Emi's driving confidence.

Her feet were kicked up on the dashboard as she sat in the passenger side, warmed up in woolly socks and boots Bucky had also nicked, and the soundtrack to their windows-rolled-down road trip was a perplexing Japanese synth CD track because of course the car radio was stumped.

With eyes focused directly on the road, Bucky's eyebrows twitched every time a song changed it's beats even by a second. His glare was icy when she giggled.

"What?"

"You look absolutely tragic."

His face was sullen. "Thanks."

She rolled her eyes. "You've had a normal life before, I'm sure you know of sarcasm, Bucks."

"It's Bucky," he grunted.

"You kill my people, I get to call you whatever I want."

His next breath was a hiss.

Was she sorry that she was still bitter? Only a fraction. Her only source of joy for the day was tormenting the demon, poised as a guilt-ridden and unknowing man yet a murderer all the same.

"I didn't- "

"You didn't mean to, whatever," she snapped.

He sighed, and they left it at that with the CD playing over and over until the skies turned dark and they drove along a desolate highway. Emi never really liked any electronic music beforehand, but she had a newfound love for the way it pierced her ear drums and gave her a different unbearable pain to think of.

Bucky was still driving intently. She pulled her feet off to read the clock.

11:38AM. _What?_

She looked up. Dark sky and dark clouds that didn't even look like clouds - they looked like they were streaked into the sky with black acrylic paint.

She looked down. 11:38AM.

Up. Dark sky.

Down. 11:38AM.

"Uh, Bucks..."

"Hm?"

"Is our clock wrong?"

He gave her a weird, slightly concerned look and read the time. "Uh, no?"

"Bucky, it's night time and the clock says 11:38AM."

"The sun's still out..."

She shook her head. What was wrong with him? "Have we stopped for fuel and food yet? And don't you need a toilet break? And put on the headlights!" She reached out for the light switch and his hands stumbled to fight them off. To say he was alarmed was an understatement.

"Emi, are you okay?"

"WATCH OUT!"

This time her hands grabbed at the wheel and there was a screech so grating it deafened her ears. They would have swerved off the road if not for Bucky's immediate reflexes.

"YOU JUST HIT SOMEONE!" she screamed.

"There was no one there!"

Emi threw half her body out of the window to look back. They must have been driving too fast to see the body now. "Bucky, stop the car."

"We didn't hit anyone."

"Bucky, stop!"

Grumbling, he blinkered left to an emergency curb. She kicked the door open and ran back to where she could have sworn they rammed into the body of a black-clad woman. The sky was blackening fast. Soon she wouldn't be able to find the woman in her blindness.

Emi cupped her hands around her mouth and called out. "HELLO?"

It was getting cold out too. Her toes wiggled in their socks as she tried to get heat into their frozen tips and she rubbed her arms.

"Come on, where are you, lady?"

The side of the car had hit her - she shouldn't be completely dead or unconscious. Yet the road ahead was completely empty, flanked by expanses of flat fields on either side. She pivoted to call out to Bucky to help, only to be met with the same sight of emptiness. A chill shook her heart.

He had left her.

"N-No," she spluttered and pulled at her hair. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Where was the black-clad woman? Was this Bucky's intention all along, to find out where to go and ditch her?

She crumpled to the ground and hugged herself. The concrete was unbearably cold.

Above, the darkness was descending like red curtains after a show. Emi remembered the first show her father had taken her to. It was a puppet show called the Ticking Tale, and it claimed to have toured all across Japan, even in small villages with dwindling numbers. Each show was a new story.

The one Emi saw was about a good man who wanted gold to please his wife, enough to prevent her from leaving him. Of course, the audience booed the wife every time she made an appearance, blind eyed to the man suffering from scraping rocks day-and-night for a single nugget to gift her. One day, he struck a particular core and from it emerged a beautiful, smiling girl.

She felt the love in his heart and offered him her ruby pendant to give. The man insisted he could not accept her generosity. She said, "Simply give me a friend to play with and you have paid me more than this ruby could ever offer."

Unable to sway her otherwise, the man relented and told her of his young son.

From then on, the girl played with the man's son and they became fast friends. Because it was ruby and not gold, the man debated whether to show his wife the girl's pendant or not. What if she thought he was unworthy of attaining her desire? What if she demanded to know where such a gem came from, and he would admit the girl had given it to him?

She would say the girl was royalty and raise her, keep her, loving her more than the man himself.

However, when the wife found the pendant hidden in the drawers, she lashed out and he was too meek to explain. It was not gold, but it was ruby, and ruby was enough value to make anyone stir.

"You have been seeing another woman, haven't you?" she shrieked. "This is why you are never beside me when I wake, or sitting at the dinner table with your son and I to eat."

In a jealous fit, she shattered the ruby.

The instant the ruby splintered, the beautiful girl dropped dead in the field.

By that part, Emi's father had thought the story was getting a little too intense for a four year old so he ushered her away. The next day, her friends told her that the man died of heartbreak, and the son saved the girl and married her.

Emi closed her eyes.

How very lucky was that beautiful girl, to have someone who could save her. The last person she thought could at least help her was now gone. She sighed. Maybe she shouldn't have been hostile to him, then she wouldn't be stuck lost and alone in the night.

* * *

 _No one will ever understand._

Steve would never understand, but he was understanding. The only other man who let the guilt and hatred rightfully puncture him was Tony Stark, but he was an enemy. Bucky gritted his teeth. No matter how many times he tried, he would always be the unforgivable killer. Emi's harsh words should have been like practice darts. Why did he have to be so hurt each time she shot?

His trance was broken by a squawking crow. It landed on the car roof, it's feathers glistening in the sunlight.

Bucky wondered where Emi had gone. He figured she would come back when she realised there hadn't be anyone. It was 11:51AM now and she wasn't back.

Girls... They needed space in their moody fits, didn't they? Maybe he had given her too much space.

He flipped on the hood of the sweatshirt to shade his eyes from the bright rays and started in her direction.

* * *

The first signs of life were the thudding footsteps. She stood up. Had Bucky come back for her?

" _Konbanwa_ , Ms. Ina."

She twirled around. She could barely see the figure speaking in Japanese against the darkness. Judging from their skeletal-like lankiness and drooping clothing, it was certainly not Bucky. Every cell in her body quivered with panic.

"Aren't you a little far away from home?"

 _Only light eats darkness_ , she chanted. " _Hai_ , I am _._ W-Who are you? Can you help me?"

"Of course I can," the voice chuckled. They stalked closer and closer, closing the space between them. Emi tried to hold her ground as they leaned their head in, almost resting it on her shoulder which suddenly felt weighted. Their voice was a loud hiss in her ear. "We've been trying to get you home all this time."

" _Doko desu ka?_ "

They chuckled again, then vanished.

Emi didn't even register the pain in her neck when the figure had sunk its fangs deep into her skin and fidgeted while pierced into her veins until seconds later. She screamed.

Shadows darted in her vision as her hands flew to her neck and her whole body froze, as if all the blood vessels in her body were being squeezed. Emi gulped for air greedily, desperately. She couldn't move, couldn't feel as her knees hit the ground and she toppled sideways. The scream was stuck in her throat - there was no more air in her lungs to release a single chord.

"Emi! Emi!"

 _Please be Bucky, please, please, please._

The shadows cleared way for the sight of clear blue eyes.

 _Yokatta._

"Emi, are you okay?"

 _Paralysed_ , she thought, but glad that he was here. Her whole body flooded with relief.

Bucky's lips were set in a grim line. He pried off the hand she had at her neck and narrowed his eyes. "Did you do something to your neck?"

He pressed the fingers of his non-robotic arm against her throat. For some reason, it seemed to be the key to unlocking her vocals. She felt her neck muscles relax instantly. Her eyes rolled upwards, and she noticed it was morning. Suddenly, the pieces fell into place. "I was chased by a ghoul."

"What?"

"You were right," she said. "There wasn't anyone on the road."

He sighed and scooped her up to walk back to the car. "And what's a ghoul got do with this?"

Her weakened body jostled slightly in his grip.

"Ghouls are evil spirits that aren't exactly spirits. Its not a term we normally use outside of the village. Most people don't believe in ghouls."

Bucky stayed silent.

"They're like a hybrid, between spirits and vampires. If they can be brought out of hell, they feed on certain people - people with a lot of negative energy, or people who are... Well, dead..." Emi... She had never really been a Debby-Downer, and sudden emotional surges weren't known to summon ghouls. Only the negative and the dead. Wasn't she considered dead by her hometown anyway? "So, like me, maybe?"

"You're not dead," Bucky stated.

"Bucks, that ghoul is going to keep coming after me until I'm completely drained."

"If you're dead, how is it supposed to kill you again?"

She shook her head. "They don't feed on _humans._ They feed on the positive energy we have, until we are completely devoid of it and we become one of them too."

"So it wants to eat you and make you a ghoul. Fantastic. Will it be following us to Africa?"

"I don't know... It depends why and how it was summoned. Only then we can know its motives."

That was either by the idiocy of a summoning or a negative energy so colossal it acted as a portal for them. Unless there was some other magical way. There was only so much that the village knew about ghouls.

* * *

"What do you mean there's no more Bucky sightings?"

Natasha's apologetic sigh was what Steve got in response. "His trail ends at Osaka. I'm sorry, Steve. There's not much else I can give you."

"Surely Stark-"

"After that stunt I pulled at the airport, he had to pull all strings to get me cleared. Stark would contain me in a cell if he knew I was on a payphone to you."

Steve laughed, albeit tired. "You would probably find a way out."

"Night, Steve."

"Bye Romanoff."

The cell beeped off.

* * *

 **A/N:** I listened to some J-Synth to make sure it was the kind of music I wanted playing in the car, and now I'm absolutely hooked! Then I ended up listening to the Resident Evil and Amnesia: A Machine For Pig soundtracks for the ghoul scene and I do NOT recommend that if you want to sleep peacefully at night o.O

So Emi annoyed me quite a bit in this chapter, but a girl's gotta freak when her life's been turned upside down, right? And you might want to keep the Ticking Tale show someone in the back of your head. Let's say it's inspired by the Clock of the Time Dragon for you Broadway fans. ;)

Please feel free to leave a review, every bit of advice helps. I especially would like to know how you're finding the characters!

May you have a lovely day. 3

 **ROUGH TRANSLATIONS**

Konbanwa - Good evening

Hai - Yes

Doku desu ka? - Where?


End file.
